The sea of sand smoldered beneath the sun's glare. The air was thick with heat and stale with disuse; this land had been long forgotten by the world. A lone, disheveled figure valiantly attempted to reawaken the oxygen. His chest heaved as he staggered the length of the dunes. The long forsaken path of sparse gravel and dying cactuses was nearly hidden, causing him to stoop often and peer with blurry, sand crusted eyes until it was found again. Then he would stagger on.
Josh wheezed with effort as he waded through the sand. A trail of sweat, which poured of off his face like a faucet, marked his long path through the desert, but the winds were swift and soon the sands were smoothed. There would be no trace of his trek left when the day was through. Finally the combination of dehydration and heat beat him to the ground and, lacking the strength to rise, there he stayed.
I guess this is what it's like to die, he thought morbidly as the sands began to cover him. The winds blew the thick grains over his feet first, hiding his worn tennis shoes from view. Then he saw his hand disappear beneath a sea of gold. It was not long before he was futilely wiping the blinding sand away from his face. The heat suddenly became too much and his body went limp. Josh drifted in and out of consciousness, occasionally he was even able to register a cohesive thought beyond, Geez, I'm kinda thirsty…
He watched behind dark eyelids as scrambled bits and pieces of memories kaleidoscoped in his mind's eye. They were random and confusing: his first day of High School, his tenth birthday, a hamburger, a Yankee's game, his first kiss…suddenly the kaleidoscope went black. When he awoke again, he found that he could no longer see; the relentless sand inhibited his eyesight. Miserable and immobile, he lay on the ground in shock. I don't think that I wanna die, he pondered unhappily. The world went black with this thought.
Now I lay me down to sleep. He awoke with the prayer already in his thoughts. Surprised, but not taken aback, he continued. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. He thought for a moment about those two lines. Perhaps death was just like sleeping. He could feel the sun's scorching heat above him and would have grimaced had he control over his mouth. All right, perhaps his death would be like falling asleep in a sauna, but it was still just like falling asleep. If I should die before I wake. Josh could feel the welcoming drowsiness of darkness creeping up in him again. He tried to smile as the world and all its cares disappeared.
The wind howled despairingly. The sand whipped about aimlessly. The traveler's thick legs moved quickly over the sand; it glided over the burning dunes with ease. The sun saw it's yellow face reflected in the traveler's shining armor. It moved through the desert like a glittering crystal in a light bulb factory. Stopping abruptly in front of an abnormal lump, it reached down and dug into the small pile. Apparently satisfied, it straightened to its full, massive height, clutching in one hand a disarray of clothes, skin, and hair. It grinned.
Josh could feel himself being rudely commanded back to reality. Life-giving oxygen entered his lungs as he gulped the thick, heat-saturated air in. He opened his tear filled eyes and squinted at the dark outline of a gigantic figure and could feel his heart sink slowly. He could feel the cold, bony hands close around his waist. Grim Reaper's definitely not a skeleton…He thought dimly. He opened his dry, sand filled mouth and attempted to protest, but he could only croak. Helpless, he felt himself being lifted into the heat-ridden air. He closed his eyes in dismay and dizziness. He could feel the darkness coming to claim him again, and this time he welcomed it. Before he had the chance to slip into the cool dreams of unconsciousness, he found himself parting his chapped lips. He desperately croaked one last time.
"I pray the Lord my soul to take."